BBDC to Award Heffel Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2019

January 8, 2019

This past November, the 1925 painting “The Lab” by Frederick Banting sold for $313,250 – a record for the artist and more than ten times the pre-sale estimate. The painting depicts the lab at the University of Toronto where he and Charles Best discovered insulin just a few years prior. Heffel Fine Art Auction House, which sold the painting, has donated its commission from the sale to the University of Toronto’s Banting & Best Diabetes Centre.

In recognition of Heffel’s generous donation, we are pleased to announce that the Banting & Best Diabetes Centre will be awarding a Heffel Postdoctoral Fellowship this year. The objective of our postdoctoral fellowships is to attract and foster young investigators to initiate or continue research training in the field of diabetes. By supporting fellows, we are supporting the next generation of diabetes scientists.

The Heffel Postdoctoral Fellowship will provide one year of support for an individual holding an MD or PhD to carry out full-time diabetes research at the University of Toronto or one of its affiliated institutions. We are grateful to Heffel Fine Art Auction House for their kind donation.

The Lab (1925) by Frederick Banting is his only known painting of the University of Toronto lab where he discovered insulin (image courtesy of Heffel Fine Art Auction House)